Surprised?
by Tanis Dragon
Summary: A new transfer student is sent to do some involving the Sohmas. Whats the connection between this student and Hatori? Find out. COMPLETE SHORT STORY


He stood near the gate, his brown hair falling into his face pulled by the gentle wind. His blue eyes scanned the school area as he played with the end of his tie, which he had left undone. He was a new transfer student here and wasn't too thrilled to be starting class already. He could hear the school bell ring clearly, the mark of the beginning. Growling slightly to himself he made his way to the entrance. He easily found his senior classroom and entered. Instantly he was bombarded with the sound of girls squealing with excitement, gathered around one boy with purple-ish hair and purple-gray eyes. He didn't seem at all pleased with the attention he was getting from his classmates, male and female alike. Not to far from him, the transfer student could see a boy with orange hair and red eyes, glaring coldly at the boy getting attention. New schools held so much...fun. He stood there, not really feeling like sitting, not knowing what seats were open with everyone still standing. 'Someone kill me now...please,' he thought to himself, as the teacher walked in and everyone else took a seat.  
"You must be Arian, the transfer student from Europe," the teacher said to the boy left standing. He nodded and then was assigned a seat next to the 'mister popularity' that the teacher had named as Sohma Yuki. Arian sighed. He'd have to get used to people using their last names first. He himself didn't have a last name. Class began officially and Arian tried not to fall asleep. He spent the time examining the people in the room. He hardly gave any attention to the boy next to him; not liking the 'prince of the school' air people had given him. Arian did not want to be here. His thoughts drifted back to the day he had moved here. He was suppose to start school right when he moved but he kept putting it off till he couldn't anymore. On that day he had met one person who he knew he wouldn't forget anytime soon. However for the life of him he hadn't gotten the guys name. Arian shook his head as the end of class bell rung. Time flew by and Arian hadn't even noticed. He stood up wanted to get out of class as soon as possible. It wasn't meant to be. Yuki stopped him.  
"Seeing as I'm the class president I should welcome you and offer to lead you around school if you need it." Arian, quirking a brow, looked at Yuki.  
"I don't need your help. I can pretty much take care of things. Thanks anyways."  
"Alright...Ari-san. Um...?"  
"What is it?"  
"Is Arian your only name?"  
"I don't have a last name Sohma. You wanna make something of it?"  
"Ah no. I was just wondering."  
"Well now you know." He turned to walk off only to find the boy with orange hair behind him. "Do you want something Carrot?"  
"No." Arian just glared at him. "But the names Kyou."  
"Like I care."  
"That attitude's not going to get you anywhere in this school," Kyou said, clenching his fist a bit.  
"Sure it will. It'll get me out of it." Arian turned to glare at Yuki who was still standing there and then looked back at Kyou. Arian shook his head and walked off not wanting to bother with talking to them anymore. He didn't get five feet away when a few running lower classmen ran into him, seeing as he wasn't really watching where he was going. He was pushed back into the wall, his brown hair falling to hide his flushed face. Kyou and Yuki were still standing there having stepped to the side. Yuki looked at Arian, wondering why he didn't move out of the way.  
"Are you okay?" Arian growled slightly.  
"I'm fine." He then proceeded to run down the hallway, away from then.  
"That was strange," Kyou said once Arian was gone.  
"He reminds me of you Baka Neko." Meanwhile, Arian gripped the gate at the edge of the schoolyard. His shoulder length hair covered most of his face. His other hand gripped at his chest.  
"I was caught off guard to easily. I can't let that happen. Not here anyways." Arian straightened a bit. He looked down at himself. "No one can know. Not here at this place." He started to walk away from the school. Screw it. He'd had enough for one day. In his opinion tomorrow was too soon to be coming back anyways.  
  
~*~  
  
The next morning, Arian was walking towards school. His hair was pulled back except for the front, which fell to his chin. He had left his tie at home not wanting to bother with it. Arian sighed. He knew he already hated this place and didn't like the fact that he had to stay here. 'This is just great.' Ahead of him he could see Yuki and Kyou. 'It's too early in the morning to see them.' Suddenly a car pulled up to them. Arian stopped, not wanting to walk past them. The backseat window rolled down slowly, emitting the face of the guy that Arian had met the first day in this place.  
"Yuki!"  
"Ak...Akito? What are you doing here?" Akito smirked.  
"I wished to talk with you Yuki." Akito gave a small glance to Kyou not saying anything to him. Kyou knew it would happen. He looked around as Akito talked with Yuki. That's when he noticed Arian. Kyou left Yuki to walk over to Arian who began to look pissed.  
"Ari-san. What happened yesterday?"  
"That's really none of your business Carrot."  
"I told you my name is Kyou. The least you could do is get it right!"  
"My bad, Kyou." He nodded over to the guy in the car. "Who is he?"  
"Someone you don't want to get involved with." Arian's blue eyes glared at him.  
"I didn't ask for your opinion of him. I asked who is he."  
"He's Sohma Akito, head of the Sohma family." Arian nodded slightly and then started for the car only to have Kyou grip his shoulder. "What are you doing?" Arian looked down at the hand.  
"I'm going to school. If I don't I'll be late." Arian grabbed Kyou's hand hard and pushed it away from him. "If I were you, I wouldn't do that again, Carrot." He purposefully didn't use his real name. Their fight was drawing an audience. Akito had left the confines of his car and now stood next to Yuki, watching the two silently. At Arian's remark, Kyou lashed out. His fist was caught in Arian's hand. A kick was then directed towards his stomach sending him back onto the sidewalk. Arian sighed and turned away, looking at Yuki and Akito, the latter was smirking, the former serene. Arian was then attacked from behind. Kyou attempted to attack him, however when his arms got around him there was a *poof*. Arian looked down at the orange cat that was huddled in Kyou's clothes.  
"This is new." Akito was walking towards them. He stopped in front of Arian and in a fluid motion ripped his shirt. Arian turned away quickly holding the shirt to himself but not before Akito got a glance at the bindings.  
"You're a girl." Yuki, who had been walking to them, paused. The cat on the ground seemed to look up in shock and anger.  
"So? What are you getting at?" She paused. Akito didn't say anything. "You Jyuunishi are all the same." With that Arian started to walk off. Akito grabbed her wrist painfully.  
"Yuki, get Hatori from the car." Yuki nodded slightly and headed to the car. Arian stiffened. 'Oh no...not good.' Arian looked down, her face somewhat covered by her hair. Hatori stood by Yuki. He looked at Kyou who had just turned back and was currently getting dressed again and then to Akito and the one he was holding on to.  
"Hatori! Erase her memory!" Arian wouldn't look at him. "Hatori!"  
"Go ahead Hatori." Arian finally looked up, her blue eyes meeting his brown ones. Hatori inhaled sharply.  
"Ari-kun...?"  
"You know her, Hatori?" Kyou asked, staring between the two. Akito let go of Arian's wrist to turn fully to Hatori.  
"Yes i know her. Ari-kun...is an old friend of mine. One i had thought never to see again."  
"Well you thought wrong i suppose, Hatori." Arian briefly glanced at Akito. 'So much for my secret not getting out.' Arian crossed her arms over her chest, the binding of which could be seen clearly through her now ripped shirt.  
"Could someone explain what exactly is going on?!" Kyou yelled.  
"How is it that you remember things? I erased your memory."  
"Yes. At least you thought you did. There are things about me that you don't even know or could even begin to understand Hatori. Just as the Jyuunishi, i myself am cursed, only in a different way."  
"Cursed?" Hatori took a step closer to her, making her take a step back.  
"Yes." Arian looked at Yuki then to Kyou and then to Akito. "To you, my memory was erased. You left. Everything was okay. To me, I woke up with a slight headache. I couldn't comprehend anything until after you had already left. And with that I lost only slight memories. I suppose things not worth remembering. My last name. My family." She shrugged a bit. "Everything changed. I changed." Hatori's brow furrowed.  
"I don't understand. How could this have happened?" Hatori took another step towards her. Suddenly Hatori found the blade of a small dagger under his chin. Akito growled only making Arian ignore him.  
"It hurt me when you left me Hatori. As I said everything is different now. I'm not the same person you knew." The dagger was thrown the to ground as Arian walked off, no one trying to stop her. After a few moments of silence Kyou spoke.  
"I'm still confused."  
"Baka Neko."  
  
~*~  
  
Arian went back to the small apartment that she was renting. She changed shirts. She certainly hadn't seen this coming. 'And here I thought I could see everything.' The room was lit slightly by the small window, Arian not having bothered with the lights.  
"You're earlier than I thought you would be Arian." Arian looked over at the figure on the edge of the bed.  
"Rink. What are you doing here? I thought the plan was already settled. You weren't supposed to be here for another two days."  
"Plans change Arian. Listen man, Tec said I had to start tomorrow. And you're to help me." 'That's right. Rink still thinks I'm a guy. He doesn't know yet.' "Aren't you suppose to be at school right now? You only began yesterday."  
"I decided to skip a day. So what? Did you come here to lecture me? Tomorrow is fine. I don't like the sudden change, but I have no say in this anyways."  
"That's true. Tec wasn't too sure that he should have sent you ahead. He seemed...worried about you."  
"Worried? Tec? Are you sure? Being worried isn't usually in his character. Plus this is a simple job, right?"  
"Right. I suppose. I haven't the knowledge he gave you on this."  
"You mean you haven't been fully briefed on this yet?"  
"No. He said I didn't need to until later. He's the boss. So here I am." Arian sighed.  
"I'm going out for a bit." He headed for the door.  
"Weren't you just out?"  
"Does that matter?" With that Arian left the apartment.  
  
~*~  
  
He, metaphorically speaking, walked down the sidewalk, hands in his pockets. Things were not exactly as he had thought they would be. Nothing should have been found out. Rink couldn't know anything as his partner. Tec already knew of course, he being the one to take Arian under his wing.  
"Ari-kun..." Arian stopped in mid-stride, turning slightly to look at the speaker. Hatori stood not too far down the sidewalk looking at him.  
"Hatori. What do you want?" Hatori had a pained looking in his uncovered eye at Arian's remark.  
"Can we talk?"  
"What's there to talk about? Didn't we cover the basics in our little chat earlier?"  
"I don't think we did. How did you not lose your memory?"  
"I did, or at least some of it. I didn't lose the knowledge that you wanted me to but you can't be right all the time can you? Somehow my brain wanted to keep the information that you wanted to me to lose and lose the information that I wanted to keep. Or at least I think I wanted to keep. My name. My family. Are those things I might have wanted to keep Hatori?"  
"I never knew your family Ari-kun. And you never did once tell me your last name...in the time that I knew you."  
"It wasn't that long was it, Hatori? A week? Two? Then I found out about you and you just had to make me forget. But I didn't, couldn't. It's been eating at me for this past year. Why couldn't I just forget you?"  
"I don't understand it anymore than you do Ari-kun. If i could bring your memory of your family back I would."  
"I don't need it anymore. It would just haunt my new life. I'm not the sweet person you once knew."  
"I can see that." Hatori's glance went over the male attire. "Why the act."  
"Because in this life men are more appreciated in my profession."  
"So you have a job? That's good. Did your job bring you here?"  
"Unfortunately it did. Maybe you should erase your own memory if you can...about me. Forget everything, Hatori. That's what was suppose to happen anyways right, only the other way around." Hatori took a step closer to her, reaching a hand up to caress her cheek.  
"I don't want to forget."  
"But you wanted me to?" Hatori paused. Arian quirked a brow. "That's what I thought."  
"Arian!" He turned, away from Hatori's touch to look at Rink who was running towards them. "I'm glad I found you so soon. I just got a call from Tec. He said 'its time' although I'm not sure exactly what he meant by that. He hung up afterwards. Do you know what he meant?"  
"Yes. Remember, I was given the full story for this."  
"Yeah yeah. Don't rub it in." Arian looked at Hatori.  
"I have my job to get to. Hopefully we won't see each other around." The remark held a double meaning in it, mostly a warning. As they walked away Hatori heard a small bit of their conversation.  
"Arian what exactly aren't you and Tec telling me about this job?"  
"A lot Rink. It's just not time for you to be briefed. At least not the whole story. By Tec saying 'it's time' that means he's ready to let you at least know part of why we're here."  
"And that is?"  
"The Sohmas." That was all Hatori could hear as they rounded a corner.  
  
~*~  
  
The next day Arian and Rink entered the crowded classroom silently. Both wore the uniform without the tie, and Rink unfortunately wore the chain necklace that he always wore. A somewhat good luck charm on jobs. The teacher introduced himself and gave Rink a seat next to Arian. Class wasn't going to start for at least another ten minutes.  
"Why did we come early?" Arian asked Rink.  
"Because unlike you, I didn't want to be late."  
"I had my reasons," Arian said as she saw Yuki sit down in the desk next to his. He leaned over a bit to talk to him.  
"Ari-san, I don't understand what passed between you and Hatori, but Akito-san seems most angered over knowing you two had previously met."  
"Akito can be angered all he wants. What was between myself and Hatori will stay between us two." Rink looked over at them, listening closely.  
"Hatori didn't come back to the main house last night...or so I heard."  
"And that has what to do with me, Yuki?" Arian gazed at him, a bit bored with the conversation.  
"I just thought that you might like to know." Yuki sat up straight in his desk as the bell rang for class to start. Rink caught Arian's gaze, questions in his eyes. Arian shook his head a bit. He knew that perhaps later if the time arose to tell Rink, Arian would, but right now it didn't matter. After a while the class was over and it was lunchtime already. Rink waited outside the classroom as the teacher spoke privately with Arian. As he walked out, Rink matched pace with him.  
"What was that about?"  
"Skipping the rest of my first day and all of my second. He hoped that I would be staying today longer than my first." Arian muttered something about nosy teachers under his breath. Rink looked over at him running his hand through his short red hair. "What?"  
"You're not going to tell me about what that guy was talking about this morning?"  
"He was talking about the man I was standing with yesterday when you found me." Rink waited for him to continue, but when he didn't he shook his head.  
"Not something I need to get involved with, right?" His tone was filled with frustration. "If we're suppose to be partners, aren't we supposed to trust each other? We give our lives for each other. We fight along side each other. But you can't trust me with something as trivial as your own life. Is that how this is suppose to work?" Rink stopped gripping Arian's elbow. "Answer me!" He was drawing attention to them but in his outburst had turned to using English and most people only wore confused expressions. Arian's blue eyes met his green ones.  
"What do you want me to say, Rink?" He too converted to English. "My past is of no concern to anyone. Not even myself. I swore to myself that nothing like this would happen."  
"Nothing like what?"  
"This. My past catching up with me. I was supposed to forget. That's how it was suppose to go. Only I didn't." Arian pulled his elbow out of Rink's grip in a fluid motion. "We should go eat lunch now." With that he walked away from his partner. Rink sighed. Arian had always been secretive, even in the ten months they had known and worked with each other.  
"Not like I really expected him to answer me anyways." Sighing once again, Rink ran to catch up with Arian. Yuki had been watching the exchange from the other side of the hall. He had been educated in English and had understood what they had been saying.  
  
~*~  
  
After school, Arian, with Rink alongside him, was stopped by Yuki and Kyou.  
"Ari-san...please...I care about Hatori and I don't like seeing him hurt. Why can't you just...talk to him again?" Yuki asked hesitantly. Arian sighed. Beside him Rink measured the two in front of them.  
"I don't want to talk to him again. It was painful to see him again after so long of trying to forget about what had happened."  
"Can't you forgive him?"  
"Forgive him? Not for what he did. I don't remember who I was because of him. Would you forgive him? Or wait would you have been able to have the right memories erased?"  
"I can't understand you. Why can't you just..."  
"Stop it!" Arian slightly raised his voice. "Let's go Rink. We have stuff to do." With that he walked off, Rink not too far behind.  
"Does that mean its on tonight? Do I get fully briefed?"  
"Yes." It was a short and simple answer.  
  
~*~  
  
"This is absurd."  
"Of course it is. This is direct order from Tec. We have to do our job."  
"But...it's so unlike us. To be doing a job like this."  
"Not really."  
"So what now?"  
"We go to it..."  
  
~*~  
  
Arian and Rink stood outside of the Sohma family main house. Arian stared at the wooded door in front of him. This was what it all came down to. Dressed in all black the two figures made a striking pair. Arian sighed. It was inevitable that Hatori would be here tonight, but Arian prayed that he wouldn't be. Arian nodded to Rink and the two slid the door open, entering silently. Arian pointed to a certain house. Everything was silent, light only coming from windows. They slinked across the courtyard to the house picked out. Before they got there, the door slid open. There stood Hatori, Akito, another man Arian didn't know, and in the background another figure, encased in shadows.  
"We've been waiting." The man who Arian didn't know spoke and moved to let the two inside. Arian was weary but entered anyways, not seeing a way out of this. Rink followed the door sliding shut behind them. Arian kept his gaze off of Hatori, looking instead at Akito and then the shadowy figure. Rink took it all in, not knowing anyone.  
"What's going on here?" Arian finally broke the silence.  
"Just what needs to be done." Both Arian and Rink inhaled sharply at that voice. The figure stepped out from the shadows. Black hair and hazel eyes. A cane with the head of a wolf at the top.  
"Tec!" hissed Arian just before he was hit over the head sharply. He heard the sound of a body landing on the floor, Rink's, before darkness enclosed his mind.  
  
~*~  
  
Arian awoke slowly. She could see that she was somehow missing her shirt, the binding on her chest standing out clear against her skin. She was on her knees and her hands were bound behind her. She slowly raised her head. Rink was across from her, bound as she was but still unconscious. Her head was pounding steadily. She then remembered what was going on. Tec. He had betrayed them. 'That good for nothing jerk! I'll kill him once i get out of this mess.' Rink was slowly coming to across from her. He groaned softly. 'He's going to find out...my secret that i never wanted him to know.' Rink opened his eyes. Blinking slowly he looked at Arian. It took him a while to register what he saw.  
"Arian? You...you've got breasts!"  
"Well that usually comes with being a female," came a voice from behind them. Arian twisted her neck a bit to look at her once respected boss. Arian spit at him, cursing him in every language she knew.  
"How could you do this to us, Tec? We trusted you!"  
"Really now?" Tec took out a dagger that had been hidden in his cane and cut the bonds on Rink's hands. He stood up unsteadily and rubbed at his wrists.  
"You didn't have to go that far. It hurt when that man hit me over the head."  
"It had to be more convincing. At least until she woke up."  
"I can't believe Arian is woman...you could have told me." Arian stared at them blindly for a moment. They had both betrayed her. Tears came to her eyes.  
"How could you? I can't believe the two men I most trusted in my life turned out to betray me."  
"Well believe it or not, Arian, we did," Rink said, laughing slightly. He kneeled down next to Arian. He smiled a bit. "You are very gullible, Arian. Only a fool like you could have been tricked so easily." 'This can't be happening...Hatori...help me...' Arian glared at them. She couldn't believe that they would do this.  
"Why?"  
"Why? She wants to know why." Tec grinned. "I'll tell you why. It'll be easier this way."  
"No. I mean, why would you betray me like this?"  
"Oh that. Well you see, your father found me and I told him what happened to you. He was hurt, so very hurt. This is his way of simply getting rid of you for good. Poor man, having a child like you must have scarred him pretty deeply. So I sent you on this false mission to the Sohma family. They helped me out a couple of times before. I knew that you had prior contact with one of them so I thought that it was perfect." He brought his cane up under her chin to raise her face. "You're here for a cleansing."  
"I don't even know my father. Why would he do this?"  
"He knows about what you are. He knows that you don't remember your family but it isn't enough for him. He wants you to forget everything. Almost to a point that you will have no life at all."  
"So you're going to use Hatori to erase my memory?"  
"Yes. You're catching on. Since he's erasing it all it should work. If not I'll just have to kill you." He stood up, standing next to Rink. He raised his voice a bit. "You can come in now." The door to Arian's left slid open and Akito walked in, followed closely by Hatori and the man Arian didn't know. Arian looked at them, her cheeks slightly reddened from anger. Hatori stared at Arian. They had asked him to erase her memory. All of it. He didn't know if he could do that.  
"Once this is done, you won't even remember what you are."  
"What I am. It's funny. I've never needed to be what I am, but today I'm glad to be what I am." Arian's breathing became slightly heavy. Tec glared at her. He had never acutally known what she could do, only that she wasn't exactly...human. Arian's blue eyes turned a slightly red color. They bore into Hatori's brown eyes as Arian looked at him. There seemed to be emense saddness in them. On her forehead a symbol appeared. It was a crescent moon, the tips pointing upwards. On her left cheek, just under her eye, a small star appeared. Everyone in the room took a step back, even Hatori. The roped binding Arian's wrists seemed to just melt away. Arian stood up slowly.  
"I can't allow anymore of my memories to be erased. What I have left I need." The band that had held her hair back broke and her brown hair pooled around her face, giving her and ethreal look. She walked over to Tec. He couldn't move, seemingly froozen to the spot. She placed her hand over his eyes.  
"Forget." With that a blast of light shot between her hand and his eyes. He fell backwards, landing in a heap at her feet. She turned to Rink.  
"Arian...please...I didn't mean anything by this. Don't do anything to me...please." He kept begging, even as Arian erased his memories. She only erased those of her though, not his entire memory. She stood there for a few moments, looking between her once trusted boss and her once wonderful partner.  
"Ari-kun." Arian spun around to face Hatori. Somehow they had been left alone, Akito and the other, Shigure she had heard as if from a distance, having left.  
"Hatori." She suddenly threw her hands around his neck, hugging him tightly. He was waiting for the *poof* of him changing into the tiny seahorse or baby dragon that he transformed into. Nothing happened. Arian looked up at him, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Surprised?"  
"How can this be happening?"  
"Well technically I'm not really a girl. I'm not a guy either. I just am. I chose the body of a female, and when I'm not like this I am female. That is how Carrot was changed before." She shrugged a bit. "It's hard to explain."  
"Don't worry about an explaination. As long as I can hold you I'm perfectly happy." Arian smiled fully then. Hatori returned the embrace, a smile coming to his lips as well.  
  
~~The End~~ 


End file.
